Yesterday the China Environmental Quality Communiqué 2011 was released by the State Council Information Office. This communiqué is the first official document from Beijing that contains PM2.5 figures of Chinese cities. 

However, one cannot help but notice that nothing is said in the communiqué in regards to solving China's air quality problems. China's air quality won't improve if it continues its current excessive coal consumption. 

The MEP also responsed to questions about US Embassy's PM2.5 monitoring and disclosure. But what the government needs to start paying more attention to is saving the country's air quality, not their own face. The environmental authorities need to stop finger pointing and start taking actions that really address the issue.

Lost in the haze: China's air pollution crisis

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China's economy has skyrocketed, but at a price. Power plants, factories and heavy industries are all belching out black, dirty air, at the cost of our health and our environment. The “2010 Global Burden of Disease Study” found that outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010 alone. And coal burning is the biggest contributor of air pollution in Beijing and the surrounding area, according to a 2013 University of Leeds study sponsored by Greenpeace East Asia.

© Greenpeace / Lu Guang